On the Crown tour: So many regal London locations double as sets for Netflix series

Many opulent London locations double as sets for the Golden Globe-winning drama The Crown.

Featured in the Golden Globe-winning drama The Crown, Eltham Palace is an Art Deco masterpiece that underwent a bold transformation in the 1930s.

The bathroom upstairs at Eltham Palace features gold-plated bath taps and tiles and a statue of the goddess Psyche.

The domes of the Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich, which The Crown transformed into the courtyard of Buckingham Plalace.

The stunning domed entrance hall at Eltham Palace.

With my lens focused on the regal part London played in the Golden Globe-winning drama, The Crown, who knew Jimi Hendrix would have such a starring role? I’m walking up a wooded avenue to one of the most extraordinary film locations of the $170 million Netflix series when a riotous, squawking company of parakeets noisily greets me from the neighbouring trees.

“You don’t even notice them after a while — they’re all over London,” says a guide at Eltham Palace, adding that one urban myth surrounding the non-native birds taking over the English capital points to the guitar guru’s release of a pair in Carnaby Street in the 1960s.

Indeed, while Londoners report seeing them fly over their gardens every night at dusk, it feels like I’m following their route as I hit this part of southeast London for a double dose of film-ready opulent stately houses.

Tucked away past the main shopping streets of Eltham, a suburb with vistas over the financial hubs of Canary Wharf and The City to the north and plenty of nods to its royal heritage (from its half-timbered brick buildings to streets named Crown Alley and Kings Butts, referring to the mounds created for archery), Eltham Palace packs an incongruous punch.

Sure, it has a moat and bridge to ensure a grand entrance, a magical medieval Great Hall built by King Edward IV in the 15th century and where King Henry VIII grew up, and a series of criss-crossing rescued Tudor windows and gables.

But its main attraction? Deceptively, it’s an Art Deco masterpiece — and stepping inside is like faceplanting into the most puzzling and glamorous time warp.

Originally a long forgotten ruin, it underwent a bold transformation in the 1930s, thanks to the new owners, textile magnate Stephen Courtauld and his wife Virginia. The pair’s first thoroughly Modernist stamp is its unmissable glass dome (think: wide-brimmed UFO).

Beaming down such light into the entrance space, it perfectly doubles in the TV series as fashion designer Norman Hartnell’s studio and his catwalk session for the Queen (played by Claire Foy). (He dressed her for her wedding and her coronation.)

Down to earth level, you’ll swoon around the abstract round carpet and chic Australian blackbean wood-lined room (and you’ll swear it’s circular, but it’s actually triangular) before catching all the other opulent credentials.

The bathroom upstairs with gold-plated bath taps and tiles and a statue of the goddess Psyche, rooms with a concealed gramophone, a rare-for-the-day pay phone, a vacuum system inside the walls, lights tucked discreetly into the ceiling and electric fireplaces.

Heck, even the cavernous Great Hall showcases unheard of underfloor heating (little wonder The Crown’s filming crew reportedly headed here to get warm – you’ll never be as toasty in a 500-yearold building again.)

Eltham Palace’s myriad oversized portholes, along with its curved, sycamore-and-maple veneered surfaces (its avant-garde owners worshipped the nautical style to reflect their vacationing life on ocean liners), it worked well on screen as the Queen’s quarters for the Royal Yacht Britannia and the Queen Mary. (So light and airy, it also snuck in a guest appearance as the Bermuda Government House.) Even the parakeets have nothing on the Courtaulds’celebrated pet of the day. Bought from Harrods, Mah-Jongg, the ring-tailed lemur, whose (heated, naturally) cage — and bamboo ladder to the downstairs’quarters — is still on show.

After finding myself lost in this intriguing home and Alpine and sunken rose gardens for four hours, my Crown foraging and rumbling stomach take me north to the bustling, naval-rich centre of Greenwich for an equally royal reception.

While it’s always worth booking a spot to see Buckingham Palace for added veritable royal indulgence, unsurprisingly no scenes were filmed at the Queen’s actual home in Central London.

Its neighbouring Lancaster House, a private 1820s home that’s occasionally open for guided tours by appointment, stood in for scenes inside The Crown’s Buckingham Palace and it’s the Old Royal Naval College’s courtyard in Greenwich that echoed the regal splendour of the outdoor to-ing and fro-ing of the likes of Prime Minister Winston Churchill (played by John Lithgow).

Hugging the River Thames, its two domes and columns stand beautifully on guard and are no stranger to filming. It also doubled for the palace in The King’s Speech, and has other credits including Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, Les Miserables and Skyfall.

But it’s what’s inside this free museum that has all the drama.

Reopening this year after a major conservation project, it’s home to the capital’s largest painted ceiling housed in one of the domes (the other features the neo-classical chapel) within the Painted Hall. The Sir James Thornhill’s 18thcentury baroque murals — the 40,000-square-foot creation is known as the U.K.’s Sistine Chapel with good reason — includes paintings of King William and Queens Mary and Anne.

There’s nothing like moseying around London’s royal DNA with the second season of The Crown set to return in the fall on Netflix.

And, who knows, in years to come, parakeets might their screen debut to reflect real London 2017, to boot.

IF YOU GO

Eltham Palace, Around 25 minutes via train from Charing Cross Station in Central London to the nearest stations, Mottingham and Eltham, plus a 10-minute walk. Run by English Heritage, the charity that looks after more than 400 of England’s historic buildings, monuments and sites. Tickets cost $24 for adults and $14 for children (5-15 years old). english-heritage.org.uk

Old Royal Naval College is a short walk from Cutty Sark Docklands Light Railway station. Free admission, although you can book an hour-long tour of the Painted Ceiling (adult tickets cost about $17, $8 for those ages 6-17). ornc.org/painted-hall-ceilingtours-tickets

Other notable film locations for The Crown: Enamoured by the Queen’s lavish wedding and coronation in the series? Head to the 7th-century Ely Cathedral in Cambridgeshire, where you can climb inside the 170-ft.-high Octagon Tower and re-enact actor Claire Foy (The Queen) commanding co-star Matt Smith (The Duke of Edinburgh) to kneel down before his Queen … About an hour’s train journey from King’s Cross Station. elycathedral.org

The powerful scene in the first season when King George is being operated on features Goldsmiths’Hall, doubling for Buckingham Palace. Built in the 1800s, the home to the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths (a livery company which dates from 1327) is open on certain days of the year for a free tour. thegoldsmiths.co.uk

For impeccable royal pedigree, visit the 19 State Rooms at Buckingham Palace. Adult tickets cost about $38, $21 for those ages 5-17. royalcollection.org.uk

Owned by the British Government, Lancaster House also played the part of Buckingham Palace in the 2013 Christmas special of Downton Abbey. Check out the regal exterior of this honey coloured building around the corner from the Palace. gov.uk/government/history/lancaster-house

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